Corn-planter



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wAjvs. aus. 110110K.l com PIANTLB..v No. 381,073. Patented Apr. 10,1838.

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CORN PLANTER. I l

No. 381,073. Y 'Pa,\tenteaApr.10,1a8a.

j .WITNESSES Y -IWEJVTORS i UNITED STATES f PATENT OFQFIcn.

`nnsrin s.v HoUcK` NnEDwINHoUoK, oF BEnFoRD, town.

SPECIFIATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 381,073, dated April 10,

To @ZZ whom it may concern,.- I

Beit known that we, AUSTIN S. HoUcK and EDWIN Honomcitizens of theUnited States,

residing at Bedford, in the county of Taylor' and State of Iowa, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Corn-Planters, of

which the following is afnll and clear descrip;

tion, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part vofthis specication, in which` Y Figurel represents a perspective view of acorn-planter embodying our invention. Fig.-

2 is an enlarged sectional View on the line x x tions of devices, whichwe, shall'hereinafter of Fig. 1,taken` through one of the seed-boxes.Fig. 3 is .an enlarged sectional view showing the valve in the runnersand the manner of connecting the valve-rod with they bell-crank lever onthe inner side of the seed-boxes. Figs.

4, 5, and 6 represent details of construction.' Fig. 7 is asideelevation showing the inner side of one of theseed-boxes withthe pitmen,bell-crank lever, 8vo. Y

Our invention yrelates to corn-planters, andit is an improvement on aformerf patent granted to us J une 16, A1885, No. 320,063; and itconsists in the constructions and combinafnllydescribe and claim'.

To enableothers skilled in the art to make and use our invention, wewill now describe v the same andindicate the manner in which the same iscarried out.

In the said drawings, A represents the main .frame of the machine,carrying the usual bearing-wheels, B, seed-boxes C, and such otherwell-known essential features as go to make up a complete planter.

On the ioor of the seed-box is journaled the usual .rotating dropperplate ordisk, D, having openings or pockets a for the grain, and

peripheral lugs b, beveled on one side and enf t gag'ed by apawl,wherebysaid diskV is rotated to bring the openings or pockets ainto'alignmentwith the discharge-opening c in the bot tom of theseed-box. segmental slotVd, is fitted in the seed-box immediateiyoverthe amplia-plate the walls 'or said slot converging downwardly,directing the grain to the dropper-plate, andv assists in preventing anyclogging or choking of the dropper-plate. Secured to the under surfaceApplication filed December A17,1881'. Serial No. 258,l 66. (Nomodel.)

`discharge end of the slot.

A plate, E, having a I coRN-LANTE-R. 2

the plate. E by aspring-platae, is a bar, v

f, having a curved front end extending into thedischarge end of theslot, so that its under surface will llie on ajlevel with the top-of thedropper-plate. rIhis construction prevents any but the grain in thepockets or openings a from being discharged from the seed-boxes, andalso preventsl the clogging or choking ot' thedropf 6oY per-plate vbytheaccumulation .of grainj atk thel Passing transversely across the throughthe seed-boxes is a shaft, F, andon this shaft, adjacent to the innerside oi eachV lseed-box,` is an arm,.G, havingitsouter ends bifurcatedor slotted, yas shown at g andjg.'

machine and' The shaft F passes through the center of the, j armandoscillates said arm, whichisirig`idly viixedtoit in anyzsuitableVmanner, and'in the f lower slotted 'portionof the arm one end of a`pitnnan or link, h, is pivotally secured, the o pposite end of the linkcarrying awrist-pin, 13,

.which passes through a slot, j, in the side of the feed-box, as shownin"'Fig. 4, and carries` on its lower end a gravitating-pawl, H,adapted-y dropper-plate..

. From this description it will beseen that as; l

theshaft F is oscillated ,byv means hereinafter disclosed, .the armsGr,acting upon ,thel link-h,

cause the pawl H to be moved forward and I backward, the said pawl onits forward stroke Y engaging the straight sides of the lugson thedropper-plate to move said. plate, sothat oneofits pockets or openingsisbrought'into di'- rect alignment with the underlying dischargef openingto prevent the pawl pushing-the'dropf per-plateso far that itsopeningor'pocket willv not be directly over the discharge-opening in thebottom of the seed-boze We have placed a stop, k, on the inner side vofthe sect1-borg; l and have so. located this stop that it arrests themovement of the pawl and the consequentY rotation of the droppen-plate.the momentoie of the discharge pockets'or lopenings vin said plate isover the discharger iu -the bottom of' the seed-box.

The oscillation of the shaft Fmaybe accomplishedeby any well-knownmeans; butweprc- 1 fer to eect its movement*bythe-methods hereindescribed. In one instancelthismove-v;

mentmay bev obtained bythe rkuolosonther V to engage the lugs on theperiphery ofthe Q usual check-wire engaging the slotted arms l on theouter ends of the shaft; or it may be accomplished by a foot-lever ortreadle, I, pivoted on the main frame of the machine near the driversseat. the said lever being connected by a rod, l', with the shaft F. Bythis latter means the operator is permitted to regulate the dropping ofthe grain from his position yon the machine whenever he does not 'wishto use the check-wire, or when he wishes to plant closer than the knobson said wire indicate.

A spring, K, secured at one end to the arm G, has its opposite end fixedto a slotted arm, J, adjustably secured to the side of the seedbox,whereby said arm and its adjuncts are drawn backward into their normalpositions as soon as the forward oscillation of the shaft has beencompleted.

The runners L are secured to the main portion of the machine in anywell-known manner, and may be constructed as shown in our said formerpatent, being .provided with a valve, M, having an upwardly-extendingrod, N,which i s connected with one arm,m, of a bellcrank lever, O,pivoted to the side of the seedbox, the other arm, n, of said leverbeing cut away on its inner side to form the notch 0,which is engaged bythe notched end of a rod or bar, P, loosely pivoted in the upper endofthe oscillating arm G.

It will thus be seen that as the shaft F is osoillated by either of themeans before described its movement transmitted through the arm G androd or bar P forces the arm n of the bell-crank lever O backward,thereby rais ing the arm m of said lever to open the valvein therunnerand to permit the escape of the grain in the feed-passage of the latter.As the arm mis raised, its top surface strikes the under sur face of thepivoted rod or pitman P, and raises the notched end of the latter ont ofits engagement with arm n. As soon as the arm n is released,the weightof the lower arm, m, and its attachments causes the bell-crank lever toresume its normal position, and permits the valve M to close thefeed-passage in the runners. The feed of grain from the runners is thusautomatically controlled by the oscillation of the transverse shaft andarm G, the valve in the runners being opened during the period thedropper-plate is being rotated, but closed again by the release of thebell-crank lever before the succeeding pocket of grain is deposited intothe feed-passage of the runner.

The seed-boxes herein shown may be provided with the usual guide-pulleysfor the check-wire, and the runners, which are placed to one side of thecenter of the seed-boxes, are provided with curved plates Q, fordirecting the grain from the box to the runner,and also with anywell-known form of shoes R. In addition to these features, the machinemay be supplied with theusual lever for elevating the front of themachine to regulate the depth the shoes enter the ground, and such otherwellknown accessories as may be found in'a successfully-operatingplanter.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire tosecure by Let.

1. In a corn-planter, the seed-boxes and the transverse shaft passingthrough said boxes,in combination with the arms G, fixed on said shaft,the pitmen or links pivoted in thelower ends of the arms and providedwith wrist pins passing through slots in the boxes,apawl carried by eachpin and reciprocating in each box,a stop onthe inside of each box forchecking the forward movement of the pawl, and a spring for retractingsaid pawl, substantially as described.

2. The seed-boxes provided with the rotating dropper-plates and theoscillating shaft, arms, pitmen, and pawls for actuating said plates,'incombination with a plate,E,in each box over the dropper-plate,said platevE being provided with a slot having downwardly-converging walls fordirecting the grain to the dropper-plate, and the barf, projecting intothe discharge end of the slot, substantially as described.

3. The'main frame, an oscillating shaft,the arms G, the pitmen or linksh, the pawls H, and the seed-boxes having rotating dropperplates, incombination with springs connected with said arms G, a foot-lever ortreadle pivoted to the main frame, and a rod or bar connecting saidlever with the shaft, whereby the latter is oscillated, substantially asdescribed.

4. In a corn-planter, the combination of the seed-boxes having rot-arydropper-plates, the oscillatingtransverseshaft,the armsGthereon,adjacent to each seedboX, a pitman, P, connected to the upper ends ofsaid arms, a pitman attached to the lower ends of said arms, pawlscarried by said lower pitmen and actuating the dropper-plates, thebellcrank levers operated by the upper pitmen, the runners having valvestherein, and rods extending from said valves to thelower arms of thebellcrank levers, whereby said valves are operated during the movementsof the shaft and dropper-plates, substantially as described.

5. The combination, with the seed boxes, complementary seed-droppingmechanism,and an oscillating shaft for actuating theseeddroppingmechanism, of a bell-crank lever on each seed-box connected with thevalve in the adjacent runner, and a pitman carried by the shaft andoperating the lever to open said valve, said lever having a lower armadapted to engage the pitman during its upward movement, whereby theupper arm of. the lever is `released and the valve automatically closed,substantially as described.

AUSTIN S. HOUCK. EDWIN HOUCK.

iVitnesses:

C. S. NICHOLSON, .IENNIE M. HoUoK.

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